79
linuxxx
6y

For people who think/find that open source solutions are always better than commercial/paid/proprietary ones, you are not going to like this rant.

I'm starting to get really fucking fed up with people always, whenever I see someone (including myself) mentioning that an open source solution which is an alternative to a closed source one, saying that it's shit.
I've had countless encounters on here (also irl) where someone mentions that an open source solution (GIMP or Libre Office for example) is shit by default while they've maybe (or probably?) not even used it themselves.
Also people going "you can't even compare those two as for what they can do/features/functions". I'm definitely not saying that those open solutions are perfect. But to call them worthless or shit and/or to say that you literally 'cannot compare them' or that the open solution just doesn't work as a *FACT* is fucking bullshit.

Let's take GIMP for example, the use case of a friend of mine:

- He works both with macOS and Linux Mint, he *needs* a design/photo editing tool which is cross platform. (or at least one which works on macOS+Linux)
- He does not mind paying for software but he prefers to use software which is free as in freedom because he also likes to tinker with the software (a lot of people find this argument bullshit, I noticed on here. Why is that? It's a valid reason. Maybe not for you but we're not talking about you right now).
- He likes Photoshop but due to Linux incompatibility and the fact that he can't tinker around with the code, it's not an option for him.
- He'd gladly go for paid software but GIMP fills all his design/photo editing needs (also the more advanced ones but don't ask them to me because I have no fucking clue how that shit works)
- GIMP *just works* for him, he never has trouble with it.

Let's take Libre Office, my own use case:

- It *NEEDS* to work on Linux, which Libre does.
- It *HAS* to be open source, ethic/moral thingy; Libre Office is open source.
- It doesn't need to work complete magic but it needs proper basic document and 'excel' sheet functionalities which is the case with Libre and it works *for me*.
- I don't mind paying for it, will probably donate in the future (seeding the macOS+windows+linux versions fulltime at the moment)

See, for our use cases, it works very well. So why go into "it's no match for proprietary alternatives" mode right away? It actually is, as you see in the examples above.

Please stop saying that those solutions *don't work* or *are shit* because they do work and are useful for me and loads of people around the world.
Do they have *ALL* the features which their proprietary alternatives have? Maybe, maybe not, maybe they're missing some and maybe they even have some features which the proprietary alternatives don't have, I haven't checked out every feature.

I'm not saying that it works for you, for the record, I'm just saying that just because for you it is a fact that they're bad/shit/hardly working, doesn't mean they are for others.

Comments
  • 4
    @Jilano I was talking about this rant when I mentioned I wasn't in for pointless discussions but I had to get this out :)
  • 8
    I like the Open source world, but I also like what proprietary software can do too, sometimes the evil companies have a better product in regards to features, stability and hardware compatibility that open source doesn’t have otherwise, when that’s not the case, open source gets my vote!

    Personally I find libre office cosmetically from the dark ages, but as for functionality it does most things well, once you adjust 👍
  • 6
    In my experience, a lot of the open source software that I’ve used, is less appealing and unintuitive to use in comparison.

    I.e. Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape has a lot of features, it is really good, but the design sucks, and to me, it’s pretty difficult getting started with compared to illustrator. Though many of the coolest features in Inkscape doesn’t even exist in illustrator.
  • 4
    Software is all about fulfilling customers needs. If someone is happy/pleased by open source software, why would a dev really mind?
    Of course you always can compare (at least) some properties with a payed sw but for which reason? If ones needs are covered up by the open source sw I don't see a real point for that comparison. 🤔
  • 3
    I use open source a lot when i'm programming. I like it... But I hate when some people are extremists and are trying to change how i work or what tools i use. Some open source tools are great! But in a lot of cases i prefere licenced tools because i use some advanced features. But when workning with typescript of JavaScript i always use vs code.
  • 4
    Both have their advantages, flaws and place.
    Basically, I just came to write that most paid software is more polished ui/ux wise (what people already elaborated nicely) and, since people like to judge by appearance, the sw, overall, seems better. UI, just as UX, matters, far from that it does not. Some simply can't pass beyond visual. Their choice.
    These kind of debates are almost always pointless, just use what works for you. Getting emotional about it is simply useless. If one could influence people like that, with a few words, the world probably be a better place.
  • 5
    Damn I expected huge ass heated discussions, this is exactly what I was hoping for!

    Again, I'm not saying that anything is flawless but I've seen it a lot on here that people push it into the 'useless' category just because it's open source.

    @C0D4 Fair enough, I'd never use an application from a company like Microsoft if there's a (worse) alternative but that's my ethical side.

    As for libre, I personally didn't have to adjust at all, maybe that's something for you (and possibly other people of course) specifically?
  • 1
    @linuxxx Ha! I can understand. It sure is a sensitive topic, and I'm glad the conversation is going strong!

    (I do agree with most of what has been said.)
  • 2
    @linuxxx personally I do a lot of macros with excel, and although calc has its own macro ability which is VBA like, its a tiring process to convert them over and you end up giving up 😅

    Other then excel, I have no real use for the rest of MS office specifically anymore that libre can’t handle, besides maybe Visio.. which can be sorta done in draw, and Project was really good for tracking, prior to using Jira.

    On a sarcastic side note: no one can do Frontpage like MS 😂
  • 6
    Intro: "For people who think … (I'm not gonna type it all over), you are not going to like this rant.

    What.. is he going to defend proprietary software? Has @linuxxx lost his mind?!
    *reads rant*
    *sees great defense for GIMP and LibreOffice*

    Ah, looks like I just got bamboozled :')
  • 1
    @C0D4 I've heard that before tbh but I've written a few page long excel formulas and ported those to libre calc by literally copy pasting and it just worked like that xD
  • 1
    @Condor or if we abbreviate a bit more: for people who think, you are not going like this.
    Morale: don't think and you'll be happy 😁
    Nicely said 😉
  • 1
    @nnee ignorance is bliss indeed 🤣
  • 0
    Autosaving to OneDrive makes Office the clear winner for me, but Libre Office has its good uses too
  • 0
    Just let me make this ppt, so nobody can view my pro-Office 365 Arguments :-D
  • 3
    @not-sure it is not less intuitive, you just not know it.

    I remember the first time I opened Photoshop or any adobe shit, I think it was CS3... It looked like a fucking alien world to me.

    Smart thing as gimp, inkscaoe, blendr, etc.

    You can't expect two software to be identical feature and naming wise, everything has a learning curve.

    Now days all major propietary software has am open source equivalent that does the job and looks good doing it.
  • 1
    @mundo03
    But it's different, which makes people dislike it anyway.
  • 0
    You first para and rest paras, contradicts with each other
  • 0
    I’ve always seen it as proprietary apps have some amazing features and if you need those features you will realize pretty quick and price will not be much of a hurdle. But if your are not sure what you need or you know you don’t need the particular high end features of the proprietary softwares, solutions probably exist in the OSS community.
  • 1
    @RiderExMachina yes I know, I just hate when people say dumb shit like that isntead of just accepting they don't know the software.

    I do like, however, when people mention the lack of specific things they are missing. It shows they at least did some research.

    Even better when they mention stuff they liked too.
  • 1
    @Condor @RantSomeWhere @jalebiBhai the birth of rant bait intro 😝
  • 0
    @irene kinda what I thought tbh, thinking something like an opensource aoftware you used wasn't that great or something.

    I guess for me I've used gimp and it works but the time I used photoshop worked for me it felt a lot better just easier to pick up for me, I ain't picky when it comes to either ans generally if I need something edited I ask my brother because he is 1000x better than me (if not/he's busy, ill do it myself)

    Aside from that Blender3D! Love it and won't ever use anything else because I'm so used to it, used it over the years and learnt all the neat little tricks, I won't ever be a pro 3d artist (do a couple prototype gameobjects for when I wanna test things) so it works for me and if i ever need anything professionally done I ask my bro! (he has 3ds max, zbrush, and maya for the gooood stuff)
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